Google released a major update for its Project Ara platform today, with additional information on the modular platform’s upcoming capabilities, flexibility, and long-term market plans. The company will test the device in Puerto Rico later this year in preparation for a possible commercial launch.

Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group is finally ready to show off a new, fully working prototype of the Project Ara modular smartphone. The prototype appears to be a polished version of Spiral 1, which made a brief public appearance in June at Google I/O. Perhaps most excitingly, though, the Project Ara engineers say that they’re almost ready to show off Spiral 2, which will make the prototype from the video look like a potato.

At I/O 2014, Google has publicly turned on its modular Project Ara smartphone for the first time. Considering Project Ara nothing more than some pretty concept art back in October 2013, it’s impressive how quickly Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group has produced a working prototype. If all goes to plan, Google hopes to sell the modular Ara smartphone in 2015, starting at $50 for a bare-bones endoskeleton that you plug other modules into. During the ATAP tech session at I/O 2014, Ara chief Paul Eremenko also gave us lots of technical details about how to actually build a modular phone — no mean feat, as you can probably imagine.

There is no shortage of genuinely good smartphone options on the market. However, if you want to stay completely up-to-date, you’ll have to toss your old phone once a year in order to buy the new model. Unlike building a PC, you can’t switch out the parts to keep your rig fresh. Google aims to remedy that issue with its modular smartphone experiment, Project Ara, and now that project is closer than ever.

Google’s modular smartphone, Project Ara, could arrive in early 2015 and cost just $50. For $50 you’d only get a bare-bones Project Ara endoskeleton, of course — you don’t even get a display, I think– but it’s still a very exciting prospect, especially when you factor in the imminent release date. Early 2015 is a lot sooner than any of us were expecting. The utopian concept of having a single phone that you continuously upgrade over a few years, rather than wastefully replace in its entirety, could soon be a reality.

At CES 2014, Razer is showing off one of the craziest and most beautiful PCs ever imagined: A fully modular PC tower that is cooled with mineral oil. Each of the components, whether they’re graphics cards, hard drives, or RAM, is stored within a self-contained pod that can be switched out at any time. Each pod is sealed and contains two self-sealing ports that, when plugged into the system’s central spine, allow mineral oil to circulate and keep the components cool. Dubbed Project Christine, the modular PC is currently just a prototype, but if everything goes to plan Razer hopes to have a finalized version of Christine ready for CES 2015.

Motorola’s R&D department is working on an “open hardware platform for creating highly modular smartphones,” with the aim of doing for hardware what Android has done for software. If an open, modular smartphone ecosystem can be realized, it could do wonders for innovation, massively drive down development timelines and total cost of ownership, and finally allow you to do whatever you want with your smartphone, rather than being constrained by draconian measures imposed by carriers and device makers.

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